Box Score
Abilene, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team erased a pair of double-digit first-half leads and the Cru held on down the stretch for a 69-63 victory over Hardin-Simmons Thursday evening in Abilene. UMHB improves to 14-8 overall and 11-7 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the first-place Cowgirls to 16-5 overall and 13-5 in the ASC.
Hardin-Simmons exploded out of the gate for a 15-4 lead just five minutes into the game. The Cowgirls would hold a 19-9 lead with 11:10 left in the first half. UMHB would go on an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 20-19 with 7:01 remaining in the half. The two teams would continue to trade the lead before the Cru took a 31-30 halftime lead on a pair of
Stacie Stephens free throws with four seconds left in the half. UMHB scored the first four points of the second half, but HSU battled back and there would be six lead changes and four ties in the second half.
Caitlin Barganier hit a pair of free throws to give the Cru a 55-51 lead with 5:04 left, but Alexis Poplar's three-point play cut it to 55-54. The two teams traded baskets from there before the Cru was finally able to push the lead to four points with three minutes remaining. HSU would not get closer than that the rest of the way as the Cru iced the game from the charity stripe.
Lindsay Eaton led UMHB with 18 points and she also grabbed eight rebounds.
Brittany Zamora had 15 points and eight boards and also added five assists. Barganier finished with 13 points and
Landie Thompson chipped in 11 before fouling out with 4:50 to go.
Lindsey Newcombe had a huge night for HSU with 23 points and 20 rebounds. Coco Cartwright added 12 points, all of them in the first half for the Cowgirls. Jasmine Lewis also reached double figures with 11 points and Angela Newcombe grabbed 10 rebounds.
UMHB shot 40 per cent from the field and held HSU to 34 per cent shooting. The Cowgirls out rebounded the Cru 43-41, but UMHB went 19-23 from the free-throw line.
The Cru will wrap up its Abilene road swing with a 1:00 PM tip-off at McMurry University on Saturday. UMHB will then face Schreiner University and Texas Lutheran University to close out the regular season next week.
